The National Commission for Women (NCW) Chairperson Rekha Sharma has written to Chief Secretary Bihar regarding the incident in Patna where a Covid patient was allegedly gang raped at Paras HMRI Hospital and died. The NCW has stated it is concerned about the crime against women taking place in hospitals during the pandemic.

Sharma has also written to the Director General of Police of Bihar to immediately intervene in the matter and register an FIR against the accused. “The Commission has sought a time-bound investigation and action taken has to be intimated to the Commission at the earliest,” the NCW said.

News reports suggest that a 45-year old woman who was admitted to the ICU ward of the private hospital was raped by three men and the complaint was registered by her 15 year old daughter. The accused persons have not been identified by the complainant.

“My mother was sexually assaulted by three persons inside the hospital ICU on May 16. She had informed me about the incident. Since then her health condition deteriorated. I spoke to my relatives and the women’s wing of the Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) about the incident,” the deceased woman’s daughter said, as reported by National Herald.

M.L. Khan, the Duty Magistrate of Patna, said, “We have received a complaint from the deceased’s person’s daughter against the hospital administration. The names of the accused are not mentioned in her complaint. We have sent the body for post-mortem to ascertain if there was sexual assault. The hospital administration has cited corona infection as the cause of her death. Further investigation is on.”

Further, the hospital has released a statement that an investigation carried out by internal enquiry team has concluded that such incident did not take place.

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The Kerala High Court has approved the decision of the Kerala government to impose a ceiling on the price charged by private hospitals for Covid treatment and that 50 percent of beds in government and private hospitals, along with medical colleges will be reserved for Covid patients.

Bar & Bench reported that a Bench of Justices Devan Ramachandran and Kauser Edappagth were pleased with this order and directed, “GO dated May 10, 2021 shall be implemented by the government and all stakeholders and any admissions after this order will be governed by the rates. All private hospitals would be bound to offer treatment strictly as per GO and any violation will be strictly dealt with.” It also added that this was a fantastic order and orally observed that it reduced the Court’s burden in this respect to a large extent.

The health and welfare department has issued an order on May 10 with fixed prices for Covid treatment for patients in private hospitals. General wards would now cost Rs. 2,645 per day including registration charges, bed charges, nursing and boarding charges, surgeons, anaesthetists, medical practitioner, consultant charges, blood transfusions, oxygen, medicines, pathology and radiology tests and others.

With the same facilities, an ICU bed will cost Rs. 7,800 and an ICU bed with a ventilator is capped at Rs.13,800. The government order also states that there shall not be exorbitant pricing of Covid related consumables like PPE, pulse oximeter, masks, portable oxygen cylinders and consumables. If this happens, action shall be initiated by the District Collector against the concerned person under relevant provisions and no shops or hospitals shall charge more than MRP (maximum retail price), for these items.

Further, expenses for costly medicines like Remdesivir will be separate while the rate for RT-PCR test would remain at Rs. 500 as fixed by the government earlier.

As reported by Bar & Bench, the government expressed its displeasure at certain prices fixed by certain private hospitals. “We found unconscionable billings, Rs 22,000 for PPE kits. Look at the bills. We saw our humble Kanji is charged at Rs. 1300. Our Humble Kanji. Dolo is charged at Rs. 30-40…Imagine the plight of a citizen who earns 1000 and sees a bill of 2-3 lakhs,” the Bench remarked.

The matter is expected to be heard in 2 weeks.

The government order may be read here:

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Dozens of unidentified and some partially burnt bodies have been found to be floating in the Yamuna river in Hamirpur, Uttar Pradesh, amid the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic. According to an NDTV report, this form of disposal was probably adopted due to fear of spread of the virus during cremations.

Watch | Dozens of bodies were seen floating in the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur amid a surge in #COVID19 cases. pic.twitter.com/hBkVhZCDAa

— NDTV (@ndtv) May 9, 2021

Anoop Singh, the Additional Superintendent of Police, Hamirpur, told the HT that many families preferred to immerse them in the river as the last rites, instead of cremating them. He said, “Two of the bodies were partially burnt. We have informed the two districts and have also stepped-up vigil in our area.”

Dinesh Nigam, who is the councillor from Maudaha, Hamirpur Nagar Palika, told the HT that many people have succumbed to the virus in the second wave. He said, “In the second wave of the pandemic, people have died in large numbers in villages and people out of fear are not helping one another. In such a scenario, they are dumping their dead into the rivers.”

As per the government bulletin on Covid-19 deaths, Hamirpur has recorded one death on May 9, about 5 on May 8 and a total of 70 fatalities since the pandemic started.

An eyewitness and local, Siyaram, told IndiaToday, “People are cremating bodies on the fields. No government or local official has any record of how many people have been cremated or their bodies disposed of after dying due to Covid-19 in these areas.”

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Delhi police arrested two men from Dwarka neighborhood for allegedly fooling a Covid-19 patient by selling fire extinguishers under the guise of oxygen cylinders, reported the Indian Express on April 29, 2021.

Police recovered five fire extinguishers from the accused, each selling at Rs 10,000 for Covid-19 patients. As per the report, DCP (Dwarka) Santosh Kumar Meena identified the accused as Ashutosh Chauhan and Ayush Kumar.

Local police registered an FIR after complaint by Geeta Arora that two persons sold her a fire extinguisher while promising an oxygen cylinder. Her relative was suffering from Covid-19 and had a breathing issue. Despite attempts, Arora could not admit him in a hospital. Thereafter, she tried to arrange an oxygen cylinder and came in contact with the accused who charged her for the fraud equipment.

Police tracked the two men using technical surveillance and during questioning discovered that they resolved to use fake cylinders to cheat patients.

Of late, social media is flooded with potential contacts for oxygen cylinders, Remdesivir and other medical supplies. Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) earlier flagged similar messages that spread misinformation and rumours amidst the epidemic.

It is advised that people only contact verified contacts for such necessities. CJP has compiled verified information for pan-India use.

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